1. Field
Embodiments relate to a discharge circuit unit and an image forming apparatus having the same, and more particularly, to a discharge circuit unit for reducing standby power and an image forming apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
From the viewpoint of environmental protection, standby power regulations for electric products are strictly enforced for energy saving, for example, in the Americas (e.g., EPA1.2) and Europe (e.g., ErP step 2). To meet the standby power regulations, a variety of efforts are made to reduce standby power in the electric products.
An electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter for removing noise may be installed on an input terminal of a power supply (e.g., switching mode power supply (SMPS)). When electric charges charged in an X-capacitor (hereinafter referred to as “X-cap”) provided for the EMI filter flow to metal terminals of a plug in the event of plug-off, this may give rise to a problem with safety. To attempt to address this problem, a discharge resistor for discharging the electric charges charged in the X-cap may be used. However, due to the discharge resistor, power loss may occur in a standby mode. This power loss counters efforts to reduce the standby power in the electric products. A solution to such a problem is desired.